1918 RTÉ Television
Tuesday 11.11.08
And The Red Poppies Dance
The Irish soldiers who endured the horrors of the Great War are long dead, but the music of their life and times lives on. Haunting tunes sung a long, long way from Tipperary still capture the loneliness and fear of a generation of men caught between two loyalties; between King and the possibility of a new country.
Specially commissioned by RTÉ Television with the support of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, And The Red Poppies Dance marks the 90th anniversary of the First World War armistice by recalling the lost music of the trenches. Through these songs we hear the story of the Irish men who fought and died in 'the war to end all wars'.
And The Red Poppies Dance features contributors
including journalist Kevin Myers, Paddy Harte TD, historians Sinéad
McCoole and Keith Jeffrey, as well as musicians Jimmy Crowley and
Liam Clancy. It takes its name from one of the great songs
about the First World War, Eric Bogle’s No Man’s Land.
Better known here from the recordings of Liam Clancy or The Fureys
as The Green Fields of France or Willie McBride,
the song stands as haunting testimony to the forgotten experiences
of hundreds of thousands: “The sun's shining down on these green
fields of France; The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies
dance.”
When: 10.15pm, Tuesday 11 November
Where: RTÉ One Television
More:
www.rte.ie/live
iWitness
The nightly one-minute reflection will tonight focus on one
person’s thoughts on the 90th anniversary of the Armistice.
When: Following the Late News, Tuesday 11 November
Where: RTÉ One Television
More:
www.rte.ie/tv/iwitness